More details are emerging of The Kansas City Super Bowl parade Massacre and the violent shooting that hampered a third Super Bowl parade in five seasons for Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
With confetti still hovering, bullets rang out, sending the crowd running or their lives, which led to law enforcement swarming the area in a chaotic scene.
When the smoke cleared, the shooting left 23 victims wounded, including a 43-year-old woman who died. According to Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves, the other 22 victims range in age from 8 to 47, and half are despicably younger than 16.
If not for a few heroic fans who tackled one of the suspects packing a gun, there could have been more senseless tragedy.
Two juveniles were reportedly among those detained and an unspecified number of guns were recovered by police in connection with Wednesday’s shooting, where 1 million people gathered by Union Station in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.
They lined the streets and adjacent areas to bask in the glory of another Super Bowl title with their favorite players.
Shooting Started After A Dispute
According to reports, the shooting was sparked by a “dispute between several people that ended in gunfire.” A dispute gone terribly wrong and most likely alcohol- or drug-fueled. Graves was sure to stress that the attack was a personal confrontation, not an attack on the event itself.
Witnesses say they saw a man pull out a gun and spin around and start shooting. Police added, however, that there is no indication of a “nexus to terrorism or homegrown violent extremism.”
Law enforcement also said the three people in custody are all believed to have been participants in the volatile dispute and initially, 10 people were detained and questioned.
Have Kansas City Police Filed Charges?
During Thursday’s press conference, Graves said that police are yet to file any charges and the case is still under thorough investigation. Local officials don’t want to jump to conclusions and want to ensure that they have the correct culprits in custody.
Police are still accumulating physical and digital evidence, and interviewing witnesses and victims. Local authorities have brought in the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to a Justice Department spokesperson.
Graves promised to “get answers” in a post on X Thursday morning. Baker vowed to “get answers” in a post on X Thursday morning, writing in part, “I will use every tool at my disposal under Missouri law that allows me to address this tragedy.”
DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan Died At Kansas City Super Bowl Parade Shooting: How Many Others Were Wounded
Thirty patients with 19 gunshot wounds filled four hospitals in the area, according to CNN. Children’s Mercy Hospital treated 11 children between ages 6 and 15. Nine of them for gunshot wounds via hospital spokesperson Lisa Augustine. Radio DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan died after getting shot at the rally, her employer KKFI 90.1 FM said.
“We are absolutely devastated at the loss of such an amazing person who gave so much to KKFI and the KC community,” station spokesperson Kelly Dougherty said in an email to CNN.
Lopez-Galvan was known throughout the community as the life of the party and is from a very large family of civic leaders in the Latino community. She “leaves behind an incredible legacy,” said Manny Abarca, a Jackson County, Missouri, legislator who was at the parade with his daughter.
Members of Lopez-Galvan’s family are reportedly among those injured during the shooting, according to a Facebook post by the mayor of Lee’s Summit, a suburb about 20 miles southeast of Kansas City.
Lopez-Galvan’s brother is Lee’s Summit Mayor Pro Tem Beto Lopez, Mayor Bill Baird wrote. Two of Lopez’s nieces and a nephew were also injured.
Shooting survivor Jacob Gooch Sr., his wife and son were shot. He told CBS on Thursday that he overheard an altercation prior to the shooting, in which a girl told someone else, “Don’t do it, not here, this is stupid.”
“My daughter said that some lady was, like, holding him back,” Gooch said, “and people had started backing up and then he pulled it out and just started shooting and spinning in a circle.”
Chiefs players got into the act, helping to calm scared children and families. All players, coaches and staff were safe, the organization said, adding in a statement, “We are truly saddened by the senseless act of violence that occurred outside of Union Station at the conclusion of today’s parade and rally.”
Trey Smith, a Chiefs offensive lineman, told ABC that he took cover with bystanders as shots rang out, finding shelter in a closet with a group of people, including a child.
“Right before I run in there, there’s like a little kid in front of me so I just grabbed him – just yanked him – was telling him ‘You’re hopping in here with me, buddy,’” Smith said. “I don’t know how many people that were in the closet.”
The horror stories marred what was supposed to be the icing on the cake of an NFL season that was never packaged, sealed and delivered any better than this Taylor Swift Bowl.
